4 minute read
AKeith Meyer, Director
THE EDUCATION OF A DIRECTOR
KEITH MEYER
PRESIDENT OF DIRECTORS ACADEMY
To accelerate the growth of diversity, including Latinos, on company boards of directors, there is a recognized need to create an e ective pipeline of diverse candidates and to ensure these new directors e ectively ts their governance roles. ese issues are being addressed by Directors Academy, which has built a program with strategic partners and mentorships to create opportunities for individuals to gain the training needed to bring a high level of value and capability to governance and its emerging issues.
To accelerate the growth of diversity, including Latinos, on company boards of directors, there is a recognized need to create an e ective pipeline of diverse candidates and to ensure these new directors e ectively ts their governance roles. ese issues are being addressed by Directors Academy, which has built a program with strategic partners and mentorships to create opportunities for individuals to gain the training needed to bring a high level of value and capability to governance and its emerging issues.
Keith Meyer, who is co-founder and president of the Academy, has more than 20 years' experience in board recruiting, including what he calls his "day job" at Allegis Partners, and has found that the movement to increase diverse board membership is accelerating. "I am thrilled by that," he said, "I did not think in my lifetime I would see this acceleration. It is real, it is there and it is not going to stop." However, there is still much work to be done to bring new diversity to boards and to make sure that those chosen t the role. e Directors Academy o ers a nine-month hybrid virtual and in-person program that covers corporate director duties and responsibilities and emerging governance issues. "We partner with the University of California at Berkeley's Haas Business School faculty for academic content," Meyer said, "but we fundamentally believe practitioner peer to peer learning is the most e ective process. So, we have 80 percent practitioner driven elements." is allows participants to re ne their personal board value, to meet with board leaders and executive recruiters, to broaden their network and to sharpen their ability to connect with board decision makers.
To increase opportunities, the Academy reached out to private equity rms. "Maine Capital stepped up and they are now a strategic sponsor of the academy," Meyer said. e next step is to nd a venture capital rm partner. e Directors Academy was born in the wake of the nancial crisis of 2007-2008 when some directors asked Meyer why some boards had failed in a governance perspective. What he found, is that "if you did not have a diverse set of voices more than likely the board you were on during a crisis was going to have more struggles than a board with more diverse thinking, diverse backgrounds."
One hurdle to increase board diversity, the Academy founders saw was lack of visibility. "Usually, when you achieve your rst board you create slipstream of momentum," Meyer said, and that includes inclusion in databases which feed all the search rms. However, that diverse individuals who were usually in in senior management posts, but who held no board seats were not visible to board nominating and governance committees. e solution: "Let's create a pipeline of future diverse board leaders that were visible," Meyer said.
A second issue, Meyer said, involved the nominating-governance committees who "usually sit around a table and ask who do you know on this list of perspective candidates," Meyer said, "so if you are not known by these board members then they gravitate to the people they know."
In response, the academy built a system utilizing board members who can also be references, sponsors and mentors. e Academy also has partnered with the national diversity advancement organizations such as the Latino Corporate Directors Association. Our message, Meyer said, "is look at your customer base, look at your employee composition and does your board and governance group re ect that diverse set, either constituents or customers?" However, what o en is prevalent is a white male dominated board.
Another obstacle, Meyer said, "is that board service in many cases is viewed as a supreme court appointment, you are there until you physically aren't able to serve any more." However, the Academy president said, if you have a group of directors sitting in that board room 10-15 years their relevant experience is 20 years ago, that does not match up well with today's issues and challenges facing company board rooms. ere is risk, Meyer acknowledged, that some new board members, if they have not been prepared as to what this job requires, may become dissatis ed and in a year or two there will be turnover. "We take those executives who haven't been in a board room," Meyer said, "expose them to what is it like to be in a board room, what each committee of a board is responsible for, what are duciary duties, what are emerging issues, how do you operate, what is the culture and how do you build relationships with board members and with management team member."
Meanwhile, Meyer said, "I believe we are passed the tipping point and now we are going to go to that next level and we are going to see three, four, ve diverse members on boards." e next big thing, Meyer said, relates to board leadership. "I think we are populating enough boards with great diverse directors, in the next two or three years they are going to move into leadership roles than this whole thing is going to accelerate even more."
